Mistakes were made
by BlueRooster
Summary: Urahara did his best to meticulously planned for every eventuality. But even he couldn't account for every variable. There just something out of your control, and sometimes mistakes get made. An AU that tries to take the already complicated mess that is Bleach and sees what happens when some things start to go awry.


AN: So out of nowhere I had the urging to write a Bleach fic, now I love bleach a really do I practically grew up tithe the damn show but good lord almighty is it a mess conceptually. Really major elements that we learn about in the tail end of the show like the revelation about the true nature of Ichigo's Zanpacto and the 'old man Zangetsu' really being a manifestation of his quncy powers/the final big bad evil guy, all of that stuff should have had an impact on the show way earlier than they did, and it's probably because the writer simply hadn't thought that stuff threw yet honestly. In addition to those hang ups is that I've been reading Bleach Fic for so long that I really want to explore some of the really interesting ideas that have been made in other Fic like Not Quite as Planned and A Grim Tale of Reapers and tones of other wonderful writers here on these sites. So here's the deal: I'm gonna do my best to write a Fic that takes in account most of the major revelations made in the latter parts of the manga from the very beginning (except for shit that I find ridiculous) while being heavily influenced by other wonderful parts of the fandom such as not quite as planned and other works like it, as you can imagine this is gonna seriously fuck with Cannon but hey what can you do. I'm probably gonna make this story rated M for terrible language and eventually violence. Hopefully this isn't terrible, please excuse errors in spelling and formatting as this is my first fanfic and I'm writing the majority of this on a IPad. Anyway sorry for this rambling AN, let's get to the show!

The shattered shaft. A near bottomless hole marking the already deasolate expanse of Urahara's hidden chamber, in which Ichigo found himself in. Fighting for the very existence of his soul.

Now the strangest part if this whole affair, relatively speaking as to Ichigo at least the entire thing was a nonsensical clusterfuck of utter horeshit at this point but anyway, the strangest park of the whole thing is that the nearly indescribable pain in his chest that his chain of fate was causing home whenever it began devouring itself was not in fact the worst part of this whole "shattered shaft" business.

Oh sure it hurt like unholy fuck every time it started chewing on itself, and just about every time it happened Ichigo would be so absorbed in the pain that he never realize he was screaming his head off until his voice gave ever single time, but honestly it wasn't that bad. Gave him something to focus on, something to push threw and endure. So yeah the pain in his chest wasn't all that bad really, and compared to that the needles in his back and shoulders alongside the restraints were no worse than mosquito bites. His back was going to hurt like hell in the morning from being stuck like this for so long and man his nose has been inching up a storm down here and there's nothing to do about it, but really in Ichigo's mind the worst part of the whole thing was the waiting.

Between the bouts of horrible writhing pain from his souls chain there was nothing but long stretches of uninterrupted nothingness in which Ichigo could do nothing but sit threw the shattered shaft time starts to blend, there's no point of reference to judge time from, even the light of Urahara's artificial sun is absent. There's nothing to do but wait as the clock ticks down, no way of knowing how long till the inevitable overtakes him.

It is this waiting, this despair punctuated only by Urahar's occasional mocking jokes, that Ichigo finally finds a reprieve from. First in the form of overwhelming pain and odd the sensation of throwing up bone from his eyes, nose, and mouth, and then finally darkness.

Blue skies with ought a cloud in sight, the sounds of distant cars, and one hell of a crick in the neck greeted Ichigo as he woke to a serious change of scenery.

"Where am I?"

A chuckle in the distance followed my a wry reply, "Where do you think, Dipshit?" Blearily stumbling to his feet, ichigo looked about in a daze for the source of the mocking tone, only to be struck in the back of the skull by what appears to be a small pebble launched at Mach speeds towards his dome.

"I'm over here shit for brains!"

That's when he saw it, a reflection but twisted. Inverted. Wrong. Relaxing there off in the distance with a shark tooth grin, eyes alight with joy as he stared down at him from atop his perch , despite all conventional logic not to mention the very laws of physics all practically screaming in indignation at the strange figure's position sitting at a 90 degree angle from atop a vertical pole without a care in the world.

"Who are you."

An huff of annoyance precluded any form of replay,"Haven't you been listening dipshit, I'm $& ?!$&$! I've been trying to get that threw your thick-ass skull for the past twenty minutes straight!" The strange inversion gestured wildly about the air only to hang his head in disappointment upon seeing only a look of utter confusion on Ichigo's face.

"Alright let's put it this way, I'm your 'Zanpaktou'. Your sword spirit if you wanna get sentimental about it. The thing that separates your soul form all the other chumps out there and give you access to your shinigami powers!" The spirit finished with a theatrical flourish before pointing back at Ichigo before his meticulously practiced monologue was inevitably interrupted.

"But if that's true then why is it that my sword looks like a fucked up version of me!?"

Unditured by his less monochromatic counterpart the spirit continued with a sinister grin. "Who knows? The form of a shinigami's Zanpaktou is based of a whole bunch of things. Could be based on the wielder's ideals, their pride, their personality, their instincts. But personally, in this case I'd bet my money that it's all got to do with fear. Your whole life you've been so caught up in your own monumental fuckups. You can't help to see the effects of your own failures every single you get up in the morning and take a look at your baby sisters. Poor poor Karin, you remember a time when she was such a happy girl, but now look at her all full of hate and bitterness and vitriol, barely into her teens and already disillusioned to the reality of the world. And dear sweet Yuzu, trying so hard in vain every single day too keep everything together. Trying to fill a void that she can barely comprehend, the stress that must put on her is unbelievable. With that twisted reminder of your own actions greeting you each day, it's no wonder that guilt twisted your shinigami powers into a form just as twisted!"

By the end of his tirade the spirit was unable to control his mirth at the whole thing any longer and started cackling wildly, as Ichigo simply stood there mouth agape in the face of it all. Until the shock of the exchange faded, his eyes hardening into a familiar scowl, jaw clenched tight a rictus of hate, stomping three long strides forward towards the spirit with his reply.

"But if I'm not a shinigami the what the Hell are you!?"

At this the spirit's face simply shifted into one of intense disappointment, like a that of teacher having to deal with an expctionaly difficult and slow witted child. "Well that's a shame, if your not a shinigami they how is it your standing there?"

Just like that as if by reminding him of gravity's existence was all it needed to start working once more, Ichigo was falling. The building speeding past, the figure fading off into the distance, how tall was this thing anyway for him to bee falling this long? Oh wait scratch that bit about the figure in the distance, as that sanctimonious bastard seems to be zooming along side him with ought a care in the world! Before Ichigo could waist any more of his precious few remaining seconds livening with plans to ring this monochrome doppelgänger's neck the figure spoke up, his voice dripping with amusement at the whole predicament. "Well then if your not a shinigami any more then I guess your fucked! As that would have been the only thing keeping you from becoming a big red stain on the ground!" At that the figure began to chuckle uncontrollably once more.

Doing his best to gain some measure of control over his laughter the figure pointed up into the distance, "Now kid if you wanna avoid becoming strawberry jam your gonna have to find me! Now ya see that building up there, it's collapsing just like everything else in your inner world!" At that Ichigo looked up and true to the figure's word the building they had previously been conversing on the side of began to shake more and more violently, before with an audible crack the building began to tumble apart in thousands of strange cubes.

"I'll be in one of those boxes, and if you can find me before this shit hole completely falls apart and you hit the ground then well, you'll have unlocked your newly awakened powers. Now you better hurry your running out of time, if you fail the you'll either be dead or nothing but a miserable mindless hollow!"

"What the fuck does any of that even mean!"

"Good luck kid we're rooting for ya!"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Meanwhile... Elsewhere?

Urahara was never exactly one for course language, it just was more his style to ride out whatever surprises came his way with his usual calm and playful sort of demeanor. Being Hiyori's captain for a time taught him that putting up a fuss really just wasn't worth the effort, better just to try and keep everyone around you in good spirits while he analyzed every available scrap of data around him until he could find a solution for the particular scenario. However, seeing one of his few remaining friends only son vomit out what appears to me the majority of his skeletal system through his eyeballs in response to a trial that honestly was entirely Urahara's own faul/making seams to have been enough to break his seemingly unflappable resolve.

"Well fuck me running, I was really hoping he'd pull threw."

Looking down into the pit Urahara couldn't help but sigh and hold his head in his hands, as the still strangely humanoid body of the artist formally known a Ichigo flailed wildly against his restrains. The agony of his transformation was so intense that it was only a matter of time until the poor boy would tear free of his bindings and lash out at àny living thing in his path in a never ending quest to to ease his torment. God almighty, Isshin was going to beat the ever living shit out of him for what he'd done to the boy even if the vengeful father had to claw what remained of his powers from the very depths of hell itself. The boy's friends would give him a run for his money too, they had fought so hard to gain the ability to be of use in Ichigo's quest to rescue their comrade only for it all too be in vain. They were all so very young, so very young and already sacrificed so much in the prosute of lofty power, this would utterly destroy them. This may have just been his most colossal fuckup in a long series of increasingly dramatic failures all leading up to this one final screwup of absolutely monumental proportions.

"Alright kiddos out of the way, it's time for me to clean this mess up." Gesturing to the children to back away from the pit as he drew his blade, Urahara resigned himself to what he was now tasked to do with a grim determination that had become all to familiar. Determination born from centuries of guilt piling on top of one another until the result is a diamond of pure resolve, it greeted him as an old friend and enveloped his features in a cold embrace as familiar as his own skin. This is nothing new, it's just another death in a long line of casualties atributated to his hand. It makes no difference if he remembers this one growing up, walking hand in hand with his mother on their way past his shop, carrying his younger sisters in each arm laughing their way to some unknown destination, dragging his father along irritation evident in every fiber of his being . It doesn't matter. It's just another body now. Just another hollow.

Now, considering the rather substantial amount of emotional turmoil Urahara was facing in that moment, it is no surprise that when the 'Beast formally known as Ichigo' launched itself out of the pit and began to yank away at its own face as the sounds of muffled shouting/swearing began to fill the air Urahara was reasonably startled. Therefor the noise that he made as he jumped nearly 10 feet into the air in surprise was totally normal and not embarrassing what so ever.

"Ummmmmm, Ichigo? You in there?" Attempting to regain his composure Urahara approached the creature as cautiously as possible, only to find himself once again falling on his own ass when the mass of bone covering the boy's face finally gave way under his assault and Ichigo began cursing up a storm the likes of which do not bear repeating here.

"Whew! That thing did NOT want to come off! Could barely breath in there, dose becoming a shinigami always hurt that damn much old man?"

Urahara was absolutely gobsmaked, despite all his fears and the odd against them Ichigo was standing in front of him apparently no worse for where! He was fine! Sure he looked a little paler than normal but otherwise fine and in control of his full faculties. His ass was saved! There was just one tiny little hiccup in all of this rejoicing, one itty bitty little problem that when Urahara finally caught sight of made his heart sink back down into the very pit of his stomach with dread. Right there just above and slightly behind ichigo's let ear was a tiny little bone white fragment, barely any more then a fingernail long and still seemingly attached to the boy's head.

"Fuck. Tessi bring me the phone NOW! Jinta! Go round up the rest of ichigo's friends, we're gonna need all the help we can get at this point."

"What's wrong old man? You didn't think I'd make it?"

"Shut up kid and get back in the hole, until we figure out what's going on we can't risk you munching on one of your friends. Hello, Shinji? Thank god I caught you, the whole plane has gone to utter shit. Gather up your crew and head over to the shop ASAP! I'll fill you in when you get here."

"What was all that about old man?"

"Just had to call in a ringer kid, don't you worry about it. Anyways like I said, how about you get back into that pit and I'll see if I can't throw together something for you to eat? You've been down their for days now, you must be starving!"


End file.
